The Price Paid
by Happiness's Deceit
Summary: T for graphic violence  The path Aldred walks to return to his friends, and the blood he leaves behind.


**Title: **The Price Paid

**Author: **Happiness's Deceit

**Summary:** (T for graphic violence) The path Aldred walks to return to his friends, and the blood he leaves behind.

**Author's Note**: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE ahoy! Leave now if you are uncomfortable. This story is reverse chronological, and should be read this way. If you like the story, afterwards, re-read it backwards. Enjoy!

* * *

_xxiv._

Aldred steps out into the light.

* * *

_xxiii._

Aldred feels the blood caked on his clothes, the red stains on his boots, and the stiffness of the smile that he is attempting to portray. It's unnatural. He shouldn't be here, he whispers to himself as he looks at their gathering.

They are so happy. Fai and Lydi are smiling; Rengokuin and Kodachi are play-fighting as usual; Kei is at peace. They are together, and they are happy, and it makes Aldred hate them all just a little bit.

He is going to leave. It was a bad idea for him to come here, because he hasn't finished killing all of the malicious vampires. There are still some that have been hiding in the outskirts. Aldred doesn't know if he could ever find them all, but he owed it to them to try.

He smiles, more sadly but naturally this time, and turns to leave. There is nothing for him here (there is everything here, everything).

He is stopped by Kei's shout.

* * *

_xxii._

He misses them. He misses them. Longing erupts in his chest and he knows that if he gives in, he will see them. Aldred will see Fai, and Lydi, and Rengokuin, and Kodachi, and-

And Kei.

He will see them all, and then he will disappear into nothing at all. They will reject him; they will destroy him. Aldred can't keep going (can't keep protecting them) unless he knows that he still has their acceptance. If he stays out of sight, he will be the fondly remembered friend instead of the cursed bloody killer, and Aldred wishes for this most of all. He doesn't want to disappear.

Not from their memories.

* * *

_xxi._

The slip of paper that Six's bird delivers to him is straightforward.

A time, a date, and a place.

Underneath it, in bright red crayon and unfamiliar script, was scrawled;

_Stop wasting Six's time and talk to them already._

* * *

_xx._

There have been less and less vampires lately, and Aldred hopes that this means that his work is almost done. He starts to relax his guard, thinking of what it means that he could (_probably won't_) return.

It is a mistake, when a group of the few remaining vampires ambush him, thinking to kill him so that the survivors can at least go on. Aldred kills them all quickly, with practiced motions against vampires who are stronger for not starving but weak all the same.

He rubs his throat when it is all over, and stains Lydi's ribbon with deep red smudges.

* * *

_xix._

Aldred rams the head of the last vampire into the brick wall, repeating the action when the grip on his wrist refuses to slacken. He digs his fingers into the vampire's temples, drawing blood as his other hand slips its way through the vampire's throat.

Aldred has gotten better at killing them, but it does not make him happy.

Still, he pulls the carcass up to his mouth by the throat and drinks.

* * *

_xviii._

Aldred can see them, grouped together like they had before it had all begun. He can smell them in the air, familiar and strong; a scent that says _family_ when so many others say _prey_. Aldred has watched them, before. He has watched them so many times before and he wonders if this time, perhaps, is when he will cave in and approach them.

They have changed, but so has he. Aldred smells of blood now, of horror. He will stain their scent of belonging and, in the end, he will be chased away.

And maybe that's what finally makes the thirst go away, replaced by the pain he hasn't felt since he had had his stomach pierced by a lucky vampire. It rings through his body, ebbing and flowing until it hurts too much, and Aldred doesn't want to think about it (_or why, why it pains him to see them together and happy and away from him)_.

So he ignores it, this strange throbbing, and he watches.

Fai is still tall, dwarfing the others; Rengokuin is still growing, back straight and proud; Kodachi is still smiling, beautiful and honest; Lydi is still small, adorable and clutching Apsa to her chest.

Kei still can't walk.

Aldred watches him, sitting in a chair like a mannequin without direction; he doesn't speak, or move, or seem to hear what is going around him. He is still damaged, still broken, still hurting. And Aldred thinks, for one horrifying moment, that maybe Kei is still stuck in that day; maybe Kei is trapped between the moment Aldred used him and the moment Aldred left. And more than anything, that is what tears him apart, makes the aching stronger than Aldred can bear.

Aldred gets up, stealing one last look at the gathering, and is disconcerted when he meets Kei's eyes. But his friend's eyes slip away, after a moment; Aldred is torn between jubilant and terrified.

He flees.

* * *

_xvii._

Aldred curls up in the remnants of the cathedral and listens quietly to the murmured prayer of the priest. He has long traded his school blazer for a less blatant cloak, and if he draws the hood up the people take him for a human. He lets himself drift into a half sleep, fearful that when he wakes the exhausted people around him will try to bury a stake in his chest.

* * *

_xvi._

Aldred vomits blood, and he isn't sure what it means.

* * *

_xv._

_Seventh Day Memorial Center, Thirteen days from now, Five o'clock. Rengokuin will be there to make a speech on his father's behalf. Do you want to see them?_

The note reads in dark blue ink. Six's handwriting is more curvy this time, perhaps because of the rough paper he was writing on. Aldred slips the piece of paper into his pocket, nods at the black bird who takes off, and wonders if he even really wants to go.

* * *

_xiv._

Aldred's foot slips off of the stair and he curses as the vampires decide to take their chances. One pushes his shoulder down, increasing his momentum and he hears rather than feels his head crack against the uneven surface. Another grabs his legs. Yet another leans over him, pressing his head to the ground as it opens its mouth, brushing the delicate skin of his neck with sharp teeth. Aldred freezes, and wonders if this is how it will all end.

He's gotten rid of most of them. Maybe that is enough?

He feels the weight on his feet lift suddenly, and looks to see Six's black bird ram a foot through the eye of the vampire. The one holding his shoulder down moves back in surprise, and Aldred rams his hand into the neck of the last vampire, forcing his sharp nails through the skin until the vampire chokes on his own blood. Six's bird pulls his claw out of the vampire's eye, and that's all Aldred has time to see before the last vampire tackles him, sending them further down the stairs.

Aldred's head aches, but it is clear that the vampire is disoriented, so he brings an arm around the other's neck and uses the momentum to smash the vampire's head into the stairs. The vampire goes still, but Aldred retrieves his bat before checking to make sure he is dead.

When he returns the top of the stairs, Six's bird is pecking lazily at the throat of a dead vampire, and stares at him with beady eyes. Aldred prods it with a bloodied finger, and the bird ruffles its feathers before flying away.

Aldred frowns, looks at the bloodied corpse, and is not surprised to see a tiny rolled up piece of paper lodged into the unfortunate vampire's eye.

When he unravels it, the words have been lost to the run of blood.

* * *

_xiii._

The next time Aldred sees Six's bird, it carries a message that simultaneously binds him and tears him away from his path to eradicate the vampires. In Six's even handwriting, the brown paper reads:

_They know that you're alive. They want to meet you. Do you want to meet them? Faustine Central Park, Five Days from Now, Noon. _

Aldred crumples the paper, and decides he won't go.

He ends up there a day too late, and he imagines that he can see where they were standing.

* * *

_xii._

Aldred hears rumors from refugees heading to the safer parts of the continent that the Rengokuin Corporation's heir is doing a series of mysterious experiments. He thanks them by killing the vampires that have been chasing them, and on a whim asks them to deliver a message.

"_Looks like you're turning out to be a good man._"

* * *

_xi._

The vampires have begun to take notice of him, Aldred decides when they start coming in droves. He hasn't been fighting more than two at a time before now, but that changed very quickly.

He starts taking less notice what gender the emanciated vampires are, starts taking less notice of how much their bones stick out, and starts taking more notice of how much blood he can drink from them.

It's ironic, really, that Aldred hasn't eaten or drunk anything but blood for the past year. He can't even remember what milk tastes like, but imagines it doesn't taste like metal and doesn't smell like death.

* * *

_x._

Aldred pulls off his school shirt and rips it into long bits of fabric. His fingers have gone stiff with blood, and he hopes that he won't get an infection from all of the stuff that's been going around lately. He wraps the fabric around his leg where a vampire had brought an axe down on it, places a piece of petrified wood against the leg, and continues to cover it. If he's lucky, he won't end up with a deformed leg.

He slips the black blazer over his shoulders, because the materials is thick and has helped him more than once. He rolls up the remainder of his dress shirt and ties it around his waist.

He presses his fingers against the door, listening and absent-mindedly, his fingers stroke the ribbon around his neck.

He misses them.

* * *

_ix._

Swinging his bat into the temple of the vampire, Aldred tears off a chunk of the other's head. He ignores the _squelch _that sounds when he ran over it, and rams his fist into the gaping wound. The vampire screeches, raising his claws to rip Aldred's hand off.

Aldred retaliates by bringing his bat down again on the man's head.

It misses and hits his shoulder instead, and Aldred hears a crack that means the arm will be useless. The vampire lets out a sharp cry of pain, enough to rattle Aldred's eardrums for a bit, and when he recovers he has lost sight of the vampire. Aldred can still smell him, though, and he closes his eyes while waiting for the scent to grow strong. It becomes near unbearable a few moments later, and Aldred steps back as his wounded opponent claws into the space where he had been.

He raises his bat again, this time cracking it against the vampire's exposed neck.

The vampire shudders, his head lolling to one side, and he falls. Aldred waits a moment, to make sure that he isn't faking, and then lifts his fist, covered in the vampire's blood, to his mouth.

* * *

_viii._

The black bird returns again, and this time Aldred knows that it is Six's (_a vampire's)_ message.

He knows, too, that Six and Seven are helping Rengokuin find out how to fix Kei, but it makes him nervous. It is so hard to trust, now, because everyone is a vampire or someone who fears vampires; the humans have no ability to differentiate between vampires and dhampirs, and he has been attacked by the very people he wants to protect.

But Six brings him news of Kei, Rengokuin, Fai, Lydi, Kodachi and the Millenium Academy.

* * *

_vii._

Aldred coughs blood as the first vampire slices through his side with sharp nails, barely managing to dodge the thrust of the second vampire. This is the first time that he's seen two work together, and he pushes off of the stone wall he fell onto to deliver a kick to the midsection of the second vampire. While it recovers its balance, Aldred takes a step back and swings his nail bat at the first vampire, catching it under the chin.

The sound of breaking bone and the smell of blood hit the air simultaneously, and Aldred doesn't look to see what damage he's caused, bringing his foot down on the neck of the second vampire. He winces as sharp nails dig into his ankle, and the vampire screeches.

"_Betrayer_."

Aldred pushes his foot down farther until he feels a disgusting slide beneath his foot.

* * *

_vi._

Aldred awakens when he hears the flutter of wings.

It reminds him of the the vampires who had attacked the Millennium Academy, and he starts when a large black bird peers at him from where it is perched above his head. It is a familiar bird, and he raises his fingers and strokes the delicate feathers. He has not seen a bird since this all began, and it is a bit nostalgic.

The bird, content, prods him with a foot, and Aldred is only slightly surprised to see a paper tied around it. He unties the string that binds it there, and pulls the paper gently.

The blood on his fingers smudges the pristine white, and for a moment, Aldred is stunned. He looks at the murky red-brown, and it is at that moment that he shudders and realizes how much he has changed.

He realizes how much he is the same when he unravels the paper and it reads:  
_Would you like to see them again?_

* * *

_v._

Aldred drinks blood from the bloodied corpse before him and knows he can never go back.

* * *

_iv._

He thinks sometimes, when there are no vampires around, that when this is all over Aldred can return. Aldred knows they are waiting for him, and he's going to win; and maybe, maybe he'll survive, too. It could be like a fairytale, where the strong ones are those who have enough courage to survive and those are the ones who get to return and have their happy endings. They are the ones who live in the land of the eternally peaceful; they are the ones who get to love, and laugh, and dream of beautiful things.

But then he smells blood, thick iron piercing the air more effectively than an arrow, and shoves such thoughts aside. The vampires will not wait on Aldred's whimsy.

But Aldred never forgets, and the next time there is a lull in the vampiric legion, the thoughts stir again.

* * *

_iii._

A dry thirst erupts in Aldred's throat the first time he sees a vampire in the streets; it overrides the fear and pushes him into a frenzy. He realizes, then, that this was no test, no joke; this was reality, and he had volunteered himself for it.

It is reality, too, when the vampire looks up and hisses _betrayer_.

Aldred is lucky; that first vampire is starved, and his bones are easy to crack and bring down. When the vampire falls, he does not have the strength to get back up. It takes Aldred seven minutes to kill the first vampire.

It takes Aldred five minutes after that to realize the thirst in his throat is asking for blood.

He ignores it, and goes to sleep with an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

* * *

_ii._

Aldred wanders around, for the first while, because he does not know when the barrier will break (_where the barrier will break_). The only things he knows are this: He can not return, and no matter where he looks from, he can see Despair Hollow hanging over his head.

He watches people pointing and staring, unsure of what this entails.

He sees clergymen herding the humans into churches, to pray.

He hears news of the preparations going on at the Millennium Academy.

He smells tears nearly every night.

He waits, for the moment where he will find a vampire and know that the war has truly begun.

* * *

_i._

Aldred turns his back on them, slinging his bat over his shoulder casually, like this is a training session that he will definitely win. He keeps his back straight, and refuses to turn around, because if he does his resolve will crumble and more than anything, they will see his fear. He isn't stupid; the battle with Six and Seven was difficult enough with the aid of Kei.

This time, he will fight against full-blooded vampires without the his friend's assistance; this time, there will be no one who can talk him out of his madness. He will probably die, but he will definitely _win_, and Aldred supposes that that is all that matters. He wishes that he could go back and talk with them, ask for their help, but Aldred knows better than anyone else that they are not ready. Aldred is not ready, either, but if he hangs around any longer, he will hurt them.

He will tear Kei's body to shreds after draining him dry; the fear of Kodachi on that night will be echoed and spread like a virus among his dearest friends; Aldred will be left alone because he will kill everyone else.

Something like a sob tries to wiggle out of his throat, and Aldred keeps walking.

* * *

**Comments, as always, are appreciated.**


End file.
